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A  Presbyterian 
Church  with  a 
Waiting  List  of 
15,000 

By  Rev.  A.  14\  Halsey ,  D.D. 

(Reprinted  by  permission  of  The  Continent) 


Women’s  Board  of  Foreign  Mis¬ 
sions  of  the  Presbyterian  Church 

Room  818,  156  Fifth  Ave.,  New  York 


A  GROUP  OF  AFRICAN  CANDIDATES  FOR  THE  MINISTRY 


Price  3  cents;  30  cents  a  dozen 


For  a  church  of  2 ,297  members  to  be  developed  in  nine¬ 
teen  years  from  a  group  of  tiuo  men  and  four  women 
is  remarkable.  That  such  a  church  has  15.000  con¬ 
tributors  by  envelope  to  support  its  107  evangelists 
and  seventy  village  schools  almost  surpasses  belief. 
This  has  been  done  in  the  interior  of  Africa,  where 
natives  formerly  were  cannibals.  The  author  is  corre¬ 
sponding  secretary  of  the  Board  of  Foreign  Missions. 


1915 


A  Presbyterian  Church  with  a  Waiting 
List  of  15,000 

By  Rev.  A.  IV.  Halsey,  D.D. 

At  Elat,  German  Kamerun,  west  Africa,  is  a  wonderful  Presbyterian 
church.  Nineteen  years  ago  Adolphus  Good,  that  prince  of  Presbyterian 
pioneer  missionaries,  selected  Elat,  120  miles  from  the  coast,  as  a  strategic 
position  for  a  mission  station.  Superstition,  infanticide,  immorality  and  even 
cannibalism  were  to  be  found  among  the  tribes  living  in  that  immediate 
region.  But  Dr.  Good,  with  his  keen,  discerning  eye,  foresaw  even  cannibals 
made  into  Christians  and  chose  Elat  as  a  center  for  Christian  activity,  mainly 
for  the  reason  that  it  was  such  a  stronghold  of  sin. 

The  Elat  church  was  organized  twelve  years  ago  with  a  charter  mem¬ 
bership  of  two  men  and  four  women.  Its  membership  today  numbers  2,297, 


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of  whom  1,075  were  received  during  the  year  ending  August  1,  1914.  As  for 
the  propriety  of  calling  this  the  greatest  Presbyterian  church  in  the  world, 
it  must  be  acknowledged,  of  course,  that  in  mere  numbers  on  the  church  roll 
there  are  Presbyterian  churches  in  the  homeland  surpassing  that  at  Elat.  But 
this  African  congregation  has  other  strengths  and  distinctions.  In  addition 
to  its  membership  of  2,300,  Elat  has  two  catechumen  classes,  numbering  re¬ 
spectively  2,000  and  13,000.  No  one  can  be  admitted  to  the  Elat  church  as  a 
member  without  a  probationary  period  of  at  least  two  years  under  weekly 
instruction  in  these  classes. 

Is  not  that  a  preeminent  superiority?  I  know  of  no  other  Presbyterian 
church  in  the  world  with  a  waiting  list  of  15,000.  There  are  certain  celebrated 
clubs  in  New  York  City  whose  waiting  lists  are  said  to  be  a  thousand  each. 
But  the  writer  knows  of  no  club,  society  or  church  organization  which  has 
a  waiting  list  five  times  its  membership.  In  this  respect  certainly,  Elat  is 
unique. 

But  it  is  unique  in  another  respect.  This  great  Presbyterian  church  has 


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15,000  contributors  by  envelope.  Surely  that  is  an  unequalled  record.  The 
first  test  of  the  African  mission  convert,  when  admitted  to  the  probationer’s 
class,  is  that  he  must  give  up  his  fetish ;  the  next  he  must  settle  his  palavers — 
pay  his  debts,  give  up  surplus  wives,  give  up  outwardly  at  least  every  im¬ 
morality.  Then  as  a  third  step,  he  must  take  a  bunch  of  envelopes  and  become 
a  weekly  contributor- — two  years  before  reception  into  the  church.  A  careful 
record  is  kept,  and  his  card  is  punched  each  month  for  church  attendance  and 
for  contributions.  I  know  of  no  other  Presbyterian  church  where  there  is 
kept  such  minute  accounts  with  prospective  members. 

LONG  SALARY  ROLL  BUT  SELF-SUPPORTING 

During  the  twelve  months  ending  August  1,  7,500  persons  confessed 
Christ  at  the  Elat  church.  Where  has  that  record  been  outdone?  Of  these, 
5,000  were  led  to  Christ  by  the  native  Avorkers.  The  largest  attendance  at 
any  communion  service  during  the  year  was  8,100.  The  church  is  practically 
self-supporting.  And  it  is  doubtful  if  any  other  church  in  the  world  has 

5 


such  a  lengthy  salary  roll.  Elat  pays  for  107  evangelists  and  Bible  readers. 
It  supports,  besides,  the  teachers  of  some  seventy  village  schools  in  which  are 
more  than  4,000  scholars.  It  pays  more  than  half  the  expenses  of  the  station 
boarding  school,  whose  average  attendance  for  the  year  was  900. 

The  total  receipts  from  all  schools  was  $2,162  gold;  the  total  contributions 
through  church  collections  $2,500  gold.  To  get  an  accurate  idea  of  what  this 
means,  we  may  choose  as  a  measuring  rod  the  pay  of  the  native  evangelist 
and  Bible  reader.  The  lowest  amount  paid  is  $1.20  a  month,  and  the  highest 
$2.40.  Our  fellow  Christians  in  Africa  are  probably  as  poor  as  any  group 
of  Presbyterians  the  world  over,  and  their  gifts  indicate  a  spirit  of  self- 
sacrifice  worthy  of  all  praise. 

The  amount  asked  by  the  mission  at  the  beginning  of  the  year  for  all  na¬ 
tive  work  at  Elat  was  $15,515,  the  amount  raised  on  the  field  was  $13,260. 
This  includes  the  proceeds  of  the  work  done  by  the  industrial  department,  and 
fees  paid  for  private  practice  to  the  medical  missionaries.  Such  a  record  in 
a  region  of  such  utter  poverty  is  marvelous. 


6 


The  boys  at  the  school,  in  addition  to  a  crusade  against  weeds,  re-roofing 
houses,  preparing  ground  for  new  buildings,  and  much  else  erected  four  dormi¬ 
tories  for  boys  and  two  for  girls — these  six  buildings  being  each  twenty  by 
forty  feet.  Also  they  built  the  large  school  building  thirty-two  by  seventy  for 
Bulu  pupils,  and  another  thirty-five  by  eighty  for  the  German  school.  Each 
of  these  has  now  over  500  pupils.  The  total  cost  of  all  these  structures  was 
not  far  from  $5,000. 

The  girls  worked  in  the  garden,  kept  house,  made  a  thousand  kank  each 
week  (kank  is  native  bread  made  from  the  cassava  root),  did  much  sewing 
and  learned  some  useful  trades. 

It  is  well  to  remember  that  while  these  village  schools  teach  the  “three 
R's”  and  industrial  trades,  such  as  carpentry,  chairmaking,  tailoring,  sewing 
and  domestic  science,  they  also  give  daily  instruction  in  the  Scriptures.  All 
their  reading  books  are  translations  of  books  of  the  Bible.  Practically  the  only 
literature  in  the  country  outside  of  the  Scripture  are  translations  of  “Pilgrim’s 
Progress”  and  Foster’s  “Story  of  the  Bible.”  Each  one  of  the  5,000  or  more 


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pupils  under  the  instruction  of  the  missionaries  and  members  of  the  Elat 
church  is  daily  taught  some  portion  of  the  Word  of  God. 

All  the  village  schools  are  manned  by  teachers  trained  in  the  normal 
schools  of  the  mission.  All  are  Christians  and  each  village  school  is  a  re¬ 
cruiting  station  for  the  church.  From  these  schools  a  large  number  of  those 
who  attend  the  services  at  Elat  on  the  great  feast  days,  and  who  eventually 
enter  the  catechumen  classes,  find  their  way  into  the  church. 

The  report  for  the  past  year  states  that  it  “has  been  record  breaking  in 
respect  to  the  number  of  accessions,  the  size  of  the  crowds  attending,  the 
amount  of  giving  and  the  out-reach  and  results  of  evangelistic  enterprise.” 
One  of  the  “out-reaches”  was  started  two  years  ago  at  Fulasi,  seventy  miles  east 
of  Elat.  Fulasi  church  was  organized  on  Easter  Sunday,  1912,  by  members 
who  had  joined  Elat,  although  living  near  Fulasi.  In  the  advanced  catechumen 
class  at  the  new  station  there  were  last  August  1 ,358  members;  in  the  second 
class,  7,300.  On  June  communion  Sunday  there  were  10,000  people  present 
at  the  main  station  of  Fulasi  and  the  immediate  out-stations. 


8 


BUILDING  ERECTED  AND  FURNISHED  BY  BOYS  OF  THE  INDUSTRIAL  SCHOOL 


NATIVES  HOLD  NEW  STATION  UNTIL  HELP  ARRIVES 


Far  beyond  Elat  at  Lomie,  is  a  station  not  yet  occupied  by  the  missionaries 
but  preempted  simply  by  native  evangelists  from  Elat  who  are  holding  the 
fort  until  the  Presbyterian  Church  in  America  can  furnish  the  men  and  means 
to  carry  on  the  new  enterprise. 

It  is  suggested  that  in  the  theological  class  the  youngy  Built  theologues 
who  found  great  difficulty  in  previous  years  in  mastering  the  Shorter  Cate¬ 
chism,  this  last  year  learned  with  readiness  and  with  delight  sixty-five  ques¬ 
tions  from  the  new  Intermediate  Catechism,  lately  authorized  by  Assembly. 
The  entire  body  of  students  answered  all  the  questions  correctly  and  under- 
standingly. 

The  last  word  from  Elat  in  a  letter  just  received  states  that  it  has  become 
a  Red  Cross  station.  We  fear  this  means  fighting  thereabouts,  for  Elat  is  a 
strategic  point  in  the  German  colony  of  Kamerun  and  might  very  likely  be¬ 
come  a  point  of  attack  by  invasion  from  the  coast  or  from'  the  neighboring 


10 


colony  of  French  Kongo.  But  though  war  might  for  a  time  interfere  with  the 
growth  of  this  remarkable  mission  church,  the  spiritual  life  of  this  body  of 
Christians  cannot  be  seriously  impaired  by  any  disaster.  No  such  results  as 
are  evidenced  in  the  Elat  church  could  have  been  accomplished  save  by  the 
power  of  the  Spirit  of  the  living  God. 

Some  one  will  say,  “Surely  you  have  a  very  large  force  of  missionaries 
at  Elat.”  The  entire  force  last  year  consisted  of  three  ordained  men,  four 
laymen,  five  missionaries’  wives,  two  single  women. 

The  money  granted  by  the  board  for  the  support  of  this  station,  exclusive 
of  the  salaries  of  the  missionaries,  was  $2,255  gold. 

Is  not  this  the  greatest  Presbyterian  church  in  the  world? 


AFRICAN  SCHOOL  GIRLS  ARE  EAGER  TO  LEARN,  THOUGH  POORLY  DRESSED 


